October 03, 2007

Cleaning Out the Fridge

I obviously don’t write about every single thing I make, (because that would be ridiculous) but unfortunately I don’t always write about the dishes I photograph and plan to write about either.Consequently, there are some dishes have been languishing in the depths of my hard drive for months now, (or more accurately, the shallows, I need a bigger hard drive) and have most likely given up hope of ever making their internet debut.Well fear not tasty dishes, it’s your time to shine!

Million Layer Lasagna: This dish is extremely popular every time I make it, (yes, I’ve made it multiple times and still not managed to write about it).What it is not, however, is a 30 minute meal.This is an all day affair that begins with making fresh pasta and rolling it out whisper thin, (for those of you with pasta machines; all the way down to number 1) and continues with making multiple fillings.This particular lasagna has a roasted red pepper filling, a pesto filling, a cheese filling and a wild mushroom filling.Each one was made into a puree so that it wouldn’t tear any of the delicate pasta layers that were laid on top.I have also made it using a typical beef, veggie and cottage cheese filling, but I made the pasta slightly thicker in that case.

Retro Layered Salad: I’d wanted to make a big layered salad ever since I got my multi-purpose cake dome/punch bowl just so that I could show off my new purchase.This salad was the perfect choice for that. It’s also wonderfully retro and I love it. The recipe comes from the Canadian Living Cookbook from about 20 years ago and I think the best part is the peas.The salad also contains lettuce, tomato, green pepper, red pepper, hard boiled eggs, red onion, mayo, sour cream and cheddar cheese.It sounds like a hodge podge of a salad, but it’s really quite good.

Wild Mushroom Soup: Every so often I venture down the road to visit our mushroom growing friend and return with boxes of various mushrooms from shiitakes to oyster mushrooms to beech and maitakes.After one of these visits, every dish I make contains mushrooms.Sometimes I simply fry them up as a side dish with butter, occasionally I make wild mushroom pierogies and quite often I’ll make this wild cream of mushroom soup.The flavour is rich and earthy and delightful.

Vegetable Quesadillas: This recipe came from a summer issue of Fine Cooking magazine and was served for lunch out on the back deck on a bright and sunny day.Aside from the corn, the veggies and herbs were straight from the garden.It was served with salsa and sour cream on the side.

Stuffed Squash: These squash were absolutely adorable and a perfect vessel for stuffing with virtually anything.Unfortunately, the flavour of the actual squash was not my favourite.I found it to be somewhat bitter.Presentation wise, it scores high, but doesn’t live up to its looks in terms of flavour.

Tea Flower: I found these tea blossoms in Chinatown in Toronto.They’re beautiful, but the problem with them is that you really need a glass teapot in order to show them off.I don’t have a glass teapot so I used a glass coffee press, it wasn’t the same.

What an incredible feast. I know what you mean about the pictures piling up on the hard drive. I have the same issue and sometimes there are things from the last season still on the hard drive!! The lasagna looks to die for!

I was so dumb. Sometime back I saw that tea flower, but thought which was some kind of flower grew in riverbed or something.When you said good, I know it must be good! I want to try your million layer lasagna. Only when you have time... later could you please tell me how to do that roasted red pepper filling and wild mushroom filling?

dont know which one to choose here. They all look so amazing...but if i had to i'll go for the lasagna ....yummm layers of homemade paste with all my fav things n it. I always cheat and used ready made lasagna. Maybe some day i'll roll out some of my own :p

I have some pictures that I intended to blog about, but forgot the changes and such that I made to the recipe before actually blogging about it. Oh well!! I wish I had a pasta maker to make that delicious sounding lasagna!

Wow, they're all so wonderful! (I'd pass on the squash, though.) I am so excited by the idea of pesto lasagna. I just got a pasta press and need to break it in! I wish cleaning out my fridge would yield such delights, instead of scary, fuzzy stuff.

Your pictures look great. I'm sure that any one of them would make a great post. I know what you mean, though. I also have more pictures than posts. It takes me such a long time to get a post just the way I want it. I'm way to perfectionistic. I'd have to blog full-time to get everything out. That would be nice, but not very practical,

apropos flowers... the latest thing here in london are preserved hibiscus flowers which serve to adorn your glass of champagne and look very much like your tea flower... only more vibrant and MUCH more boozy, of course!